Captains Chairs in my Yacht Saloon

Sailing is a great way – if you ask me: The greatest! – of spending one´s time. Being out in nature, trying to make the best of the current weather conditions, being connected to generations of seafarers. There´s nothing like sailing a boat. Of course, we want to do it in a certain way, with style. There is no common definition for the word “comfort” when it comes to boats, which I was trying to grasp recently when I was roaming a boat show especially to have a thorough look at the different approaches to interior design (read here and here). When asking sailors, who the most stylish way of sailing represents, a lot of them will have a two-word answer: Hallberg-Rassy.

The Role Model: Captain´s Chairs configuration on a Hallberg-Rassy

And that´s true. The Swedish boats are top notch when it comes to classy, high quality interior fittings. One thing I particularly love about the yachts with the distinctive blue stripe is the Captain´s Chairs in the saloon. Call the salon chairs if you will, but that´s something that really sparked my imagination: Sitting in one of these while anchoring somewhere nice, reading the sailing directions for the next leg of the trip and having a can of cold beer. Isn´t that cool?

My Idea: Why not having my own set of Salon Chairs?

Last week while working at the boat, this idea struck my mind again and I played around with it for some while. Why not building my own set of reclining chairs to the port berth? Is there enough space to fit such a configuration to my Kings Cruiser 33? I tried it: By taking measurements of my butt – making them some 15 centimeters bigger (for guests) I first applied take to the bunk to see if I could fit in a configuration of two chairs and one cupboard.

The Salon Chairs would fit perfectly

In the course of the action I built simple cardboard models of the chairs to place them onto the bunk. It would do just neatly: I think, I would just need a base worktop made of massive wood, let´s say Oak. Nicely sanded and clear coated that would be the base of the construction. Another smaller circular plate of wood of 1.8 centimeters to mount the chairs onto: That would be it. The chairs including arm rests would not need more than 6 wooden parts. Perfect.

The Salon Chairs would fit just perfectly

For the small cupboard I opted (other than in my cardboard model), to have a two-story cupboard to not letting it appear too massive. There would be a space for placing two cans of beer, a shelf and enough stowage to make up for the lost stowage in the back rest of the berth that wouldn´t be reachable anymore. Well. Let´s put it this way: It´s maybe a nice idea, I could realize it without any problem. But: Isn´t it a bit pretentious to mimic something I am not? This is a Finnish made King´s Cruiser, not a Hallberg-Rassy.

And that’s why I declined the idea. But the two hours of working on it and dreaming of it was worth definitely worth it. What do you think?

Thanks to Swiftsure Yachts in loevely Seattle for providing for the Hallberg-Rassy Captain´s Chairs Picture.

3 Comments

You disappoint me. I was looking forward to seeing the finished, ridiculously over pretentious suite so I could copy it and go one step further and fit into my little Leisure 20. I may still do that. You should definitely do it too. 🙂

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